[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 194 (Thursday, December 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6876-S6877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Tribute to Johnny Isakson

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I come to the floor today because I 
missed an important occasion in the Senate. We had a celebration 
recently of one of our more beloved Members, Senator Johnny Isakson of 
Georgia.
  There wasn't much that could keep me away from that, but there was no 
Senator going to Madrid to the conference of the parties to consider 
the Paris Climate Agreement. Speaker Pelosi asked me to come on her 
House delegation so that it was bicameral. As I think most people in 
this body know, I am pretty animated on that subject and couldn't say 
no. There are not many other things that could have kept me away.
  I want to come now and make up a little bit for being absent that day 
and express my gratitude for Johnny's friendship to me over the years. 
I had the pleasure of going with him to the D-day anniversary on a 
codel that he led with his usual graciousness and patriotism. He was 
kind enough to join quite early on the bipartisan Senate Oceans Caucus 
I started and has been a very helpful part of that endeavor.
  We have worked together on ways to improve healthcare planning for 
people who are in the late stage of illness to make sure that they get 
the care that they want and don't get a lot of care that they don't 
want and so that they have a chance to have their dignity and desire to 
be at home respected.
  We have long been adherent of a biennial budget, and I am delighted 
that the bipartisan bill that Senator Enzi and I have put together will 
create a biennial budget. I am not sure we will be able to get that 
done before Senator Isakson leaves, but one way or the other, his 
interest in biennial budgeting will live on, I hope, successfully when 
we pass that.
  We had a parity question about children's mental health hospitals 
that weren't getting counted and, therefore, weren't getting access to 
funding for the medical interns who come, and Johnny helped me fix 
that. It helped, I am sure, hospitals in Georgia, but it was 
particularly helpful to me for our Children's Hospital in Rhode Island.
  We have a lot of Rhode Islanders who were killed in the Lebanon 
Marine barracks bombing, and there has been litigation against Iran for 
its responsibility for those deaths. It is not easy to collect a 
judgment on a foreign government, and Johnny has been very helpful to 
me in our joint efforts on Iran terror victims' judgments, helping us 
let the lawyers collect against assets of the Government of Iran.
  Then, we regularly have done National Mentoring Month resolutions 
together.
  But for all the things we have done together, that is not what I am 
going to miss about Senator Johnny Isakson. He is just one of the most 
decent, kind, good people who I have come across anywhere in my life 
and, certainly, one of the most decent and kind Members of the Senate.
  With my very sincere apologies, Johnny, for missing the correct day, 
I hope you will understand how much it mattered to me to be elsewhere 
and why I had to be there. I come to the floor now, belatedly, to wish 
you all my very best with great affection and great respect.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote 
on the soon-to-be-pending nomination be called up.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Duncan nomination?
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?

[[Page S6877]]

  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the 
Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. 
Paul), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), and the Senator from 
South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) 
would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), 
the Senator from California (Ms. Harris), the Senator from Minnesota 
(Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the 
Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 385 Ex.]

                                YEAS--89

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     McSally
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--11

     Booker
     Harris
     Isakson
     Klobuchar
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Warren
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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